Dreamfever (Fever #4), Karen Marie Moning + GIVEAWAY

Title: Dreamfever
Author: Karen Marie Moning (author website)
Release Date:Aug. 18th 2009 by Delacorte Press
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
My Rating:

Brutal, uncompromising and black as pitch, Dreamfever, the Fever series' fourth, and penultimate installment, pulls no punches, and I'm starting to thing Karen Moning takes a kind of malicious glee from torturing her characters and readers alike...

From Goodreads:
MacKayla Lane lies naked on the cold stone floor of a church, at the mercy of the erotic Fae master she once swore to kill. Far from home, unable to control her sexual hungers, MacKayla is now fully under the LordMaster's spell....In "New York Times" bestselling author Karen Marie Moning's stunning new novel, the walls between human and Fae worlds have come crashing down. And as Mac fights for survival on Dublin's battle-scarred streets, she will embark on the darkest-and most erotically charged--adventure of her life.

He has stolen her past, but MacKayla will never allow her sister's murderer to take her future. Yet even the uniquely gifted "sidhe-"seer is no match for the Lord Master, who has unleashed an insatiable sexual craving that consumes Mac's every thought-and thrusts her into the seductive realm of two very dangerous men, both of whom she desires but dares not trust.

As the enigmatic Jericho Barrons and the sensual Fae prince V'lane vie for her body and soul, as cryptic entries from her sister's diary mysteriously appear and the power of the Dark Book weaves its annihilating path through the city, Mac's greatest enemy delivers a final challenge...

It's an invitation Mac cannot refuse, one that sends her racing home to Georgia, where an even darker threat awaits. With her parents missing and the lives of her loved ones under siege, Mac is about to come face-to-face with a soul-shattering truth-about herself and her sister, about Jericho Barrons...and about the world she thought she knew.

Dreamfever is a very different creature from its forebears. Dublin has fallen. The walls dividing our world from Faery have come crashing down, and nightmares no longer hide their faces as they stalk post-apocalyptic city streets. Goodbye world, hello Unseelie wasteland. But the hunt for the Sinsar Dubh is not over, and all the major players have survived the cataclysm. The events of Faefever cost Mac terribly, but with the deadly tome still on the loose, she can't afford to wallow in her pain. Mac is back, baby, and this time, she has a gun.

Black Mac:

Mac couldn't have survived Faefever and come out the same. After the tragedy and perverse torture she survived, she's a very different girl. Princess Pink is gone, and replaced with, as she calls herself, 'Black Mac'. Watching the evolution of Mac over the course of the series has been a painful, beautiful thing. Darkfever Mac is no longer recognizable in the raven-haired, leather-clad woman in Dreamfever's pages. She has finally graduated into the action-chick she was always destined to me. Mac has truly evolved, and is still evolving. Literally. In surprising and inexplicable ways...

The Rest:

I could wax poetic about the delicious, cryptic, maddening Barrons for hours, but with Mac’s evolution has come independence. While not always making the right decisions, Mac is making her own, and it means Barrons is getting less page time… while still somehow playing an even larger part in the story. And the threads of a love triangle have solidified, in the sense that intentions have been declared. Fae Prince V’lane, and whatever-the-hell-he-is Barrons both want Mac… and have made it very clear. But, once again, after Faefever, things have changed. The world is unrecogniseable, and so is Mac… the relationship between Mac and Barrons is more intense and raw than it ever has been before. The strain and tension between the two is at fever pitch.

Young Sidhe-Seer prodigy, Dani, plays a much larger part in this book than ever before. In fact, for the first time, we get chapters from her point of view. The high-speed teen is fascinating, and the bond she shares with Mac is warm and sweet… but she’s hiding her own mysteries. And, of course, politics finally come into play with the Sidhe Seers, and Mac finally uncovers a couple of truths about her past. The Side-Seers play a far larger role in Dreamfever, and each of the pieces in the vast, complex game Moning is playing are moving into their final places, waiting for what can only be an epic conclusion in Shadowfever.

Riddles, Wrapped in Mysteries:

Dreamfever is one of the most surprising and cryptic installments in the series yet. Once again, I’m left with a myriad of questions. Not just who is Mac, but what? We finally learn something about her past and family, but precious little, and it leaves more questions. We get a tantalizing clue about the ‘what’ of Barrons, which creates still more questions. What the hell is the Sidhe-Seers’ part in this all this, and what is the, frankly pernicious Grand Mistress, Rowena, hiding? What does the Sinsar Dubh want, evil, sentient book that it is... And Barron's eight? Who and what the hell are they? What’s with the Keltar druids? What’s happened to Christian MacKelter? For all the questions Moning finally answers—or at the very least alludes too—we’re once again left with a dozen more.

The Verdict:

If the cliffhanger of Faefever was shocking, Moning’s done it again with gusto. Shocking hardly comes close. I’ve so many words for Dreamfever: deeper, darker, more complex, dangerous, beautiful and broken. It’s exactly what the series was always meant to be. Moning has finally pulled everything together and we’re just starting to see the bigger picture.

Where Moning could possibly take the next book, I can hardly imagine. Old enemies remain, and new dangers in the form of shady allies emerge. The stakes have always been high, but the danger and forboding is a constant in Dreamfever. The world has changed, and so have the rules. Dreamfever is one big infuriatingly cryptic riddle. The answer to which is just within sight.

Books in This Series:

1. Darkfever
2. Bloodfever
3. Faefever
4. Dreamfever
5. Shadowfever

What's that, you say? Oh yes! The GIVEAWAY!

I'll be publishing reviews for the rest of this series over the next few weeks, and to celebrate the fact that I'm feverishly addicted to the Fever series, I'm giving away 2 copies of the first book in the series, Darkfever. You know, share the addiction. If you've read Darkfever, but you're still waiting on a copy of another book in the series? Well, I could be convinced to send you a copy of Bloodfever, Faefever, Dreamfever, or Shadowfever instead ;)

So, want to enter? Entry below the jump!

Blogspiration (10): Dreams

Blogspiration is a weekly meme hosted by GrowingUp YA & Saz101. The meme was created to help spark inspiration among bloggers, readers & writers alike. An inspirational quote/picture/video is posted weekly, on the day of the author's choosing, so that it may inspire creativity, conversation & just a little SOMETHING.

From mynightmaresareaboutlosingyou.tumblr.com

So make them reality, instead! You can do anything you put your mind to. Well, almost Now, to go about making my Hogwart's acceptance letter real...

Believe it or not, guys, but you almost got a non-Harry Potter themed Blogspiration this week. I know, shocking, right?

More on Blogspiration and Linky sign-up below the jump!

The Alchemy of Forever, Avery Williams

Title: The Alchemy of Forever
Author: Avery Williams (author website)
Release Date: April 26th 2012 by Simon & Schuster
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
My Rating:

Beautifully written, Avery Williams’ debut, The Alchemy of Forever is a sad tale, quiet in tone, and simply told in a way that lends it a painful poignancy. It’s a story of hope, redemption, loss and the weight and cost of forever.

From Goodreads:
After spending six hundred years on Earth, Seraphina Ames has seen it all. Eternal life provides her with the world's riches but at a very high price: innocent lives. Centuries ago, her boyfriend, Cyrus, discovered a method of alchemy that allows them to take the bodies of other humans from jumping from one vessel to the next, ending the human's life in the process. No longer able to bear the guilt of what she's done, Sera escapes from Cyrus and vows to never kill again.

Then sixteen-year old Kailey Morgan gets into a horrific car accident right in front of her, and Sera accidentally takes over her body while trying to save her. For the first time, Sera finds herself enjoying the life of the person she's inhabiting--and falling in love with the boy who lives next door. But Cyrus will stop at nothing until she's his again, and every moment she stays, she's putting herself and the people she's grown to care about in danger. Will Sera have to give up the one thing that's eluded her for centuries: true love?

London, 1349, fourteen year old Seraphina Ames shares a stolen moment with the sweet, beautiful son of the Alchemist, Cyrus. Then she is stabbed. Dying in a dark street, Cyrus cannot let her go, and miraculously saves her life. Cyrus and Seraphina will live forever. But forever comes at a cost. Sera must take another person’s body to survive, and she must do so every ten or so years. In the process, the host’s soul dies, but Sera lives.

Six hundred years pass, and it is no longer her and Cyrus alone. Sera’s now part of a coven of ‘Incarnates’, immortals Cyrus has made like them. And Cyrus is no longer the sweet boy she once knew. Twisted and warped by six centuries of life, he’s cold, controlling and abusive. Sera longs for escape. To finally die. She’s on her way to do so, when she witness a horrific accident. Desperate to atone for her crimes, Sera attempts to save a girl’s life, but in the process, takes her body by accident. Sera becomes sixteen year old Kailey Morgan.

Once prepared to die, Sera finds herself living a life she’s maybe not so willing to leave. Sera may have moved on... but Cyrus has not.

Seraphina:

Sad, trapped and introspective, Sera has this quiet inner strength I loved. At the start of The Alchemy of Forever, she’s resolved to leave her ‘coven’ and go to her death, and she does so with a quiet dignity and steely resolve. Despite the ennui and weight of six-hundred long years of half-life, she’s scared and uncertain. She’s flawed. She’s fragile. She’s spent almost her entire existence sheltered and oppressed for by the controlling—and frankly psychotic—Cyrus, her once-beloved saviour turned captor. Despite her long existence, she sounds young. While world-weary, she’s retained a sense of wonder in her life, and she sees beauty in the world in a way Cyrus cannot. I loved looking through her eyes, and I enjoyed her wry humour.

Heartache and Heartbreak:

As Sera finds herself assimilating Kailey’s life, she learns to love, and to really live again. She allows herself to hope that she can make this life work. It’s both bitterly beautiful, and overwhelmingly sad. For hundreds of years, she’s survived at the cost of others. What didn’t occur to me prior to reading the book is the simple fact that Sera has stolen a teenage girl’s life. As she walks around day to day, wearing her skin, and occupying her world, my heart ached for the loss Kailey’s friends and family don’t even know they’ve suffered, and the pain that will inevitably come when Sera must leave. It’s amplified by the fact that Sera is aware of this, and grieves it herself. She hates the heartache she’ll cause, and she comes to love Kailey’s people like her own. It hurts even more as a sweet, tender, tentative romance builds with the boy next door, Noah. The Alchemy of Forever is certainly not a romance, but this very subtle, realistic affection develops in the background, giving it yet another layer of sadness and heartbreak.

Black, White, and A Hundred Shades of Grey...

But. I found it hard to swallow it’s taken Sera six hundred years to try and leave Cyrus. Six hundred years of watching him lie, cheat, steal, manipulate and murder, and she’s only leaving now... and it leaves Sera in a kind of grey area. While Sera refuses to accept a body that is not close to death, or hasn’t been courting it, she is, for all intents and purposes, a killer. A killer with a conscience, yes, but not an utterly blameless victim, either. It’s fascinating, and Avery Williams doesn’t skirt the issue; she simply lays it out as it is for the reader to make up their own mind.

The Verdict:

The Alchemy of Forever is a beautiful story. It’s filled with moments of love and wonder and the joy of those first moments of new love... and tempered with a constant sense of loneliness and sadness. While Cyrus is physically absent for most of the book, the story has this feeling of constant menace and forboding, as he is always present in Sera’s mind. Despite the cliffhanger the book ends on, I found myself satisfied. It leaves a myriad of unanswered questions that both demand answers, but work unanswered.

But as much as I enjoyed the book—and I did—I found myself struggling to connect. It’s a surprisingly short novel—only 250 pages. So much is contained within, so much history, so much longing, hurt, happiness and anger... but I didn’t always feel these things as intensely as I’d like... perhaps distanced by Sera’s own distance from a life she’s living, but doesn’t truly know herself.

Despite a couple of issues, this is one of those stories I’ve turned the final page on, only to find it haunting me days later. It takes a magnificent imagination to birth a story which such a perfect blend of magic and science, beauty and brokeness. One thing is for sure: I can’t wait to see what Williams does next.

An enormous thank you to Simon & Schuster Australia for providing a review copy of The Alchemy of Forever!

Faefever (Fever #3), Karen Marie Moning + GIVEAWAY

Title: Faefever
Author: Karen Marie Moning (author website)
Release Date: Sept. 1st 2008 by Delacorte
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
My Rating:

“Evil books and mysterious players and plots within plots, and now prophesies, too,” comments Mac at one point in Faefever. And, well, there you have it. Evil, sentient books, cryptic players—both good and bad—and, yes, now we have prophesies, too. Once again, Karen Moning has upped the stakes, intensified the fever, and, after this, MacKayla Lane will never be the same again...

From Goodreads:
Mac's quest for the Sinsar Dubh takes her into the mean, shape-shifting streets of Dublin, with a suspicious cop on her tail. Forced into a dangerous triangle of alliance with V'lane, an insatiable Fae prince of lethally erotic tastes, and Jericho Barrons, a man of primal desires and untold secrets, Mac is soon locked in a battle for her body, mind, and soul.

As All Hallows Eve approaches and the city descends into chaos, as a shocking truth about the Dark Book is uncovered, not even Mac can prevent a deadly race of immortals from shattering the walls between worlds with devastating consequences.

Mac’s search for the ancient, evil book, the Sinsar Dubh continues in Faefever, but, as always, she's not the only person on the hunt for it. With enemies who should be allies, and allies who could as easily be against her--and just may be--she doesn't know who to trust. And the cryptic, mysterious Jericho Barrons and Fae Prince, V'lane are both vying for trust, loyalty, and something much more personal.

But time is running out. More Unseelie, the evil 'dark' Fae, are slipping through cracks between our world and theirs, and their prison may not hold. Mac's world is crumbling, and not even her powerful Sidhe-Seer abilities may be able to stop it.

The End of the Rainbow...

I thought Darkfever was dark. I thought Bloodfever was darker. If they were dark, Faefever reaches pure obsidian. No longer ‘Miss Rainbow’, Mac's grown, and become more independent. Rather than simply reacting to what's thrown at her (which is a LOT, give a girl a break), she's starting to make her own moves, plans, and she's asking questions. Yes, Mac's always been curious, she's always asked questions, but she's starting to ask them of herself. In Faefever, Mac is really asking herself who she can trust. And the answer she comes up with? Herself.

Mac finally puts her foot down, refuses to be a pawn to the players around her, whether Barrons, Fae Prince, V’lane, or Sidhe-Seer leader, Rowena. But my delight in her backbone is coupled with frustration: I’m desperate for her to look beyond words to actions. I want her to trust someone, and Barrons has been the only constant, the only one to prove his concern--far beyond the simple protection of his ‘investment’, over and over again.

The Players:

As the plot thickens, so does the complexity of its players. Don’t make the mistake of thinking this means you’ll get answers, though. Seelie Prince V’lane returns with a far larger role to play, determined to insinuate himself into Mac's life (and bed), and we see more of cold, calculating Sidhe-Seer Grand Mistress, Rowena. We finally meet other Sidhe-Seers... though not without great cost to Mac. Teenage faerie-hunter, Dani, pops up again, and it’s delightful seeing some light amongst the darkness of Faefever, in the form of a sisterly-bond they develop.

Mr Dark, Dangerous, and Infuriating

But once again, there’s one other ‘player’ who leaves me desperate for more, flicking scenes, pages, and whole chapters ahead: Jericho Barrons. The Fever series’ biggest riddle, we’re no closer to any answers. Who is he? What is he? Once again, the cryptic, inscrutable man gives away nothing, but for the first time, we’re given clues. Tiny hints about what he is, plenty of red-herrings, and still absolutely nothing remotely satisfying. The push/pull between Mac and Barrons intensifies, and I smell jealousy. Present in Bloodfever, it’s intensified, and now unmistakeable. Barrons’ poker face is slipping. I loved it.

The nuances of Barrons' and Mac's interactions are fascinating. None of their words are what they seem, and it's a reflection of the complexity of the series on a whole. Layer upon layer upon layer of meaning tied up in a sentence, and an expression. The unresolved sexual tension between Mac and Barrons is electric and scorching and maddening as ever, and I may just immolate if they don’t.

The Verdict:

It’s hard to look past the end of this book, the darkest hour, to the light within, to the detail, to its subtle nuances and how crucial it is to the series on a whole. Faefever is a key point, an essential fulcrum, to the progression of the series. The myth and folklore deepens, and we get closer to some long-awaited answers, including the origins of the sinister Sinsar Dubh. More questions are asked, and, of course, fewer yet are answered. Plots deepen, already complicated characters become infinitely more complex, and if I felt the previous two books in the series were dark, Faefever is dark, darker, and darkest still.

By the end of Faefever, Mac’s taken to places so dark, I don’t see how she can come back again. Surely she can’t walk away from this unbroken? Big, dark, cataclysmic things happen in Faefever, and the ending of this book was difficult to read. I’ve grown to love this girl, and my heart was torn open, shred apart, and swallowed whole by the fate she suffers. Fever fans, brace yourselves. And have book four handy.

Faefever is the first book in the series to end on a real cliffhanger, and its shocking conclusion left me horrified, shaken, and sick to my core. Easily the darkest place the series has reached so far, it’s also the most complicated, the most compelling, and once again, it’s left me desperate and feverish for more.

Books in This Series:

1. Darkfever
2. Bloodfever
3. Faefever
4. Dreamfever
5. Shadowfever

What's that, you say? Oh yes! The GIVEAWAY!

I'll be publishing reviews for the rest of this series over the next few weeks, and to celebrate the fact that I'm feverishly addicted to the Fever series, I'm giving away 2 copies of the first book in the series, Darkfever. You know, share the addiction. If you've read Darkfever, but you're still waiting on a copy of another book in the series? Well, I could be convinced to send you a copy of Bloodfever, Faefever, Dreamfever, or Shadowfever instead ;)

So, want to enter? Entry below the jump!

In My Mailbox (12)

In My Mailbox: What is it?
In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren.It's an opportunity to share the books we've bought or received in the last week!

OK, so, this was a ridiculously exciting week for me... well, it's actually more of a week and a half, but hey, who cares? Personally, there's nearly NOTHING better in the world than coming home to find books in the mail... actually, there may be one thing better: coming home to find to find a box full of candy and mix CD's from internet BFF, Kristin, or a package with vegan mint slices and a card in the mail from your favorite evil overlord, but books are a REALLY close second.

This mailbox is further proof of the unrivalled awesome of BFF, Lauren (her blog's PURPLE! With skeletons! And I love her even more for disagreeing on just about every book we've read in common except Poison Study, which is our mutual love). Seriously, she is made of awesome, and she gave me THE FAULT IN OUR STARS AND CINDER! AAAAAH! Seriously, she's amazing, and you can't have her because she's miiiiiiiiine!

From top to bottom:

1. Timeless, Gail Carriger
2. Nightshade Series, Andrea Cremer
3. Cinder, Marissa Meyer
4. Choker, Elizabeth Woods *
5. The Fault In Our Stars, John Green
6. Vampire Academy (graphic novel. WITH NAKED BADASS RUSSIAN GOD CHEST!), Richelle Mead

* An enormous thank you to Simon & Schuster Australia for providing a review copy of Choker!

Blogspiration (9): Magic Spells and a Prince in Disguise!

Blogspiration is a weekly meme hosted by GrowingUp YA & Saz101. The meme was created to help spark inspiration among bloggers, readers & writers alike. An inspirational quote/picture/video is posted weekly, on the day of the author's choosing, so that it may inspire creativity, conversation & just a little SOMETHING.

Enough said, right? From britlovesthis.tumblr.com.

More on Blogspiration and Linky sign-up below the jump!

Andrea Cremer Aussie Blog Tour: Interview!

Excited? Uh, me? Understatement. The A M A Z I N G, quite frankly gorgeous, and ridiculously talented Andrea Cremer, author of the Nightshade Trilogy, is touring the Australian blogosphere this month, and, as I mentioned I AM CRAZY EXCITED to have her here to answer a few questions for you!

Read on to see Andrea tell us something you've never heard about Calla, how she feels on completing the Trilogy, and cement my love of her by admitting her Joss Whedon and Neil Gaiman fandom!

   

Go check them out on Goodreads!
More places to stalk Andrea: Blog  |  Facebook  | Goodreads  |  Website

An ENORMOUS thank you to the lovely Laura from Hachette Australia and Andrea for their time, making this happen, and their all-round wonderful (it's a LOT of wonderful)! ♥

Question Time!

Can you tell us about the Nightshade trilogy in your words? I’m thinking, Nightshade: For Dummies!

Nightshade is the story of Calla – a seventeen-year-old girl who is also a wolf. Calla and her pack are fighting on the front lines of a centuries-old war between two powerful factions of witches. Set in present-day Colorado, Nightshade is filled with mystery and romance as Calla searches for the truth in a world full of lies where her fate hangs in the balance.

With the final page closed on the Calla’s story, how do you feel? Has the story all played out how you planned in the beginning? Is there anything that’s broken your heart, you’re particularly proud of, or looking back that you’d change?

It’s a bittersweet experience to complete a trilogy, but the story took shape as I’d always hoped and I don’t have any regrets about it and I wouldn’t change anything.

Was there any one scene or chapter in Bloodrose you particularly loved writing?

I love writing scenes that feature Ethan and Sabine, there’s something particularly delightful in writing characters so at odds yet so drawn to one another.

There’s been a lot of talk about two smoking hot boys, the girl torn between them, and her ‘choice’. Keeping it spoiler free, but was the ending of Bloodrose planned from the beginning? Did you always know who Calla would choose?

For me it was never about Calla choosing Ren or Shay it was about deciding how she wanted to live her life and who would be there for her after she’d found the path she wanted to follow. I knew how Bloodrose would end when I started writing Nightshade and that ending didn’t change at all.

You’re stuck on a desert island (don’t worry, we won’t leave you there). If you had to be stranded with any one of Nightshade’s characters, who would you choose?

Adne – since she could weave a door to get us out of there!

Can you tell us something about Calla that no-one else knows? Her favorite song/colour/food? Is she a leftie or a rightie? Does she harbor a hidden desire to run away and become a Broadway star, or does she always tie her right shoe-lace first? Anything at all!

Calla is right-handed, and she’s jealous of Sabine’s singing voice.

You write about a girl who turns into a wolf. If you could turn into any animal, what would it be?

A falcon. I’d love to be able to fly.

What are some of your favourite books? Favorite authors? A little bird told me you’re a Neil Gaiman fan (and a Joss Whedon fan! I kind of have a girl crush on you!)...

I’m a huge Joss Whedon and Neil Gaiman fan, also Terry Pratchett and Kurt Vonnegut. Some of my favorite books are Marion Zimmer Bradley’s FIREBRAND and Margaret Atwood’s THE HANDMAID’S TALE.

Can you tell us anything about what you're working on at the moment?

I’ve just finished up RISE the follow up to RIFT. These two novels reveal the origins of the Witches’ War in medieval Europe.

Rapid Fire Round!

• Superpower? Pre-cognition
• Kryptonite? Early mornings
• Sun or Snow? Sun
• Tea or Coffee? Coffee
• Paperback/Hardcover/eReader? Hardcover and paperback
• Star Wars or Star Trek? Star Wars
• Bad Boys or Good Boys? Good Boys (She said Good Boys! I love her even more!)
• Harry Potter or Twilight? Harry Potter
• Morning or Night Person? Night
• Last song you listened to? Neon Indian “Polish Girl”
  

Want More? Plus, a GIVEAWAY!

You still want more? Head over to Tales of the Inner Book Fanatic for an interview with Ren and Shay, Novels On The Run to see Andrea talk about the boys of Nightshade, and Eleusinian Mysteries of Reading, where she tells diabolical vegan-goddess/evil-overlord, Brodie, about how she grew up with wolves!

Oh, and a giveaway! Thanks once again to Hachette Australia, you could win a copy of every book in the Nightshade Trilogy. Excited? Are you crazy? YES. Say yes! Head over to these fabulous blogs for chances to win:

• Eleusinian Mysteries of Reading
  (mind your fingers, Brodie bites)
• Tales of the Inner Book Fanatic
• Novels on the Run